1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display system, and more particularly, to supply of an image signal to a display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Resolution of printers has improved year by year, and resolutions of 300-700 dpi (dots per inch) are now common. Some printers can even perform printing in a resolution of about 1,200 dpi. On the other hand, the current resolution in displays for computers remains on the order of 80-100 dpi, and is therefore much inferior to the resolution of printers. In order to save resources and reduce consumption of paper despite an increase of electronic information caused in part by the development of the Internet, displays having higher resolution are desired.
Ferroelectric liquid crystal displays (hereinafter abbreviated as "FLCDs") using ferroelectric liquid crystals (hereinafter abbreviated as "FLCs") can be used as high resolution displays. In contrast to other liquid crystal displays, FLCDs have a "memory capability". The memory capability of the FLCD causes a liquid crystal to hold a display state obtained by applying an electric field thereto. In a display using an FLC, thanks to such memory capability, the contrast is not degraded no matter how many scanning lines are used, so that a high-definition image can be displayed even with a simple matrix structure. Hence, such a display is attracting attention for implementing a next-generation of high-resolution displays.
It may be possible to adapt conventional display system hardware to a high-resolution display. However, since conventional display systems are not designed for high-resolution displays, the following problems arise.
1. New graphic chips and display drivers corresponding to the high resolution are required.
2. In the current mainstream window systems, such as Windows (a registered trade-mark of Microsoft Corp.), the sizes of standard display fonts and icons are designed assuming that they will be displayed at a resolution on the order of 80-100 dpi. Hence, these fonts and icons would be displayed with smaller sizes on a display having a higher resolution.
If a new dedicated high resolution window based system were to be constructed, such problems would not arise even if conventional display configuration were to be used. However, since such a system would generally be expensive and incompatible with conventional systems and software, users may not accept such a system.